Beginner,telescope help

[Pluto]

Hi I am beginner in astronomy and i would like help in choosing a telescope. Ive already bought a canon eos 400d camera. I have had a look at the sky and moon with my friends William optics ZS 80 and Meade lx90. Ive been looking at lots of websites but haven't got a clue. My friends Meade is way too big. I want a telescope which is portable with the same capability as the Meade lx90. The telescope will be on a eq5 or eq6 goto mount. Any advice would be welcomed thanks..

[Jamie]

Hi Pluto and welcome to SGL...

Don't worry plenty of advice will follow...

[centroid]

Hi .....?, and welcome to SGL.

With an EQ6 mount, you'll have plenty of scope (excuse the pun ) for mounting something from quite a range of scopes.

I guess the 'bottom line', is the extent of your budget.

Dave

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Hi Pluto and welcome to SGL. I think the 200mm Newt. on a HEQ5 goto is the best bang for the buck, or if you can stretch to it, on an EQ6.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Pluto]

My budget for the telescope is around £1000. Thanks for replying

[barkis]

[glow=red,2,300]Hi, Pluto,[/glow] I bet you were wondering how long it would take somebody to say that.

Sorry, just kidding. Well, you certainly know your mounts. I have never owned one, but I have read, and heard a lot about them, and you have made a good choice. With a first class mount, you have your choice of a host of telescopes, be the SCT's

Reflectors or Newtonian. I would not presume to make a choice for you, but with a budget of a grand at your disposal, I would urge you to dwell on it a while. The mount will last you a lifetime, you could change the scope as often as your shirt as long as you can afford it.

But seriously, this hobby once you get into it will take you and your credit card over. You may want to get into imaging, and don't say you won't coz I won't believe you. Once you star seeing the images produced on this site by some of these guys, you will start to weaken.

Of course you need a scope, but before you make a decision, analyze what you wish to observe, Deep Sky, Planets, Double stars.

Once you have an Idea what your preference is, tell us, and plenty of advice will be forthcoming I'm sure.

Welcome to SGL by the way, you have joined a great group of people.

Ron.

Sorry about the long winded post, but I can't offer a sentence, I have to write a book.

[Pluto]

First of all thanks again for replying. The telescope will be used for deep sky and for planets, i don't know if you need 2 different types of telescopes.

I can understand that you can spend and spend, but i don't want to buy something that Ive got to replace within a few months. i want a telescope that is not to bad, which i can experiment

with for a while until Ive got the best out of it. i bought the camera just to take pictures with, then couple of nights ago i started taking pictures of the moon and stars just for fun, and thats with my camera only, on a normal tripod, now I'm hooked since then i have been out till early hours of the morning even on a bad cloudy night to get that better picture.at the moment i haven't got a clue about the sky where things are and what they are. but like everything it takes time.

[barkis]

Pluto, it seems from what you say, a reflector with an aperture of 10" and focal ratio f5 would probably serve you well.

Of course you would only need the OTA Optical Tube Assembly, and the hardware to mount it onto you EQ6.

With the amount available to you, you probably could choose an Apochromatic refractor with a decent size lens, maybe in the order of 110mm.

These are beautiful instruments, which yield wonderful images, both to the eye, and also for imagery.

These are only a couple of starter Ideas, so may I suggest you contact Steve, who is a member on SGL, and is the proprietor of First Light Optics. His Logo is at the top of SGL's opening page. He will guide you through the minefield of choice. And if you should make a purchase, you will also get a 10% discount for being a member here. Good Eh?.

Cheers Ron.